Why Christians Should Embrace Bitcoin.

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The Fed Broke God’s Scales. Bitcoin Fixed Them.

“Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.” ~Proverbs 31:9

Bitcoin, a commodity heard of by many yet understood by few, stands as a revolutionary opportunity in our modern world. Like the fable “The Blind Men and the Elephant,” one can get a variety of answers as to what it is; and like the answers in the fable, the description is almost always incomplete, if not completely inaccurate. Through a biblical lens, we will unpack Bitcoin’s purpose, weaving scriptural insights to expose the problems it solves, and why Christians should embrace it.

To begin we must realize that our current money and banking system stands in stark contrast to God’s commands: “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight”¹ and His law to Israel: “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.”² At its core, the problem lies in the fact that modern money is not linked to a tangible asset like gold or silver as in generations past but instead derives its value solely from government decree and public trust. This leads to a system that allows central banks to print money, at will, because there is nothing limiting the amount of money that can be put into the supply. When the monetary supply is inflated in this manner, it slowly weakens the purchasing power of the people’s savings. What the working man earns week after week, year after year, and struggles to save for his family and retirement, is silently eroded away with a few keystrokes by an unelected official.

For everyday people, especially the poor and middle class, this acts like a hidden tax, as wages fail to keep pace with rising costs for essentials like food, housing and energy, leaving finances perpetually tight despite annual raises. Meanwhile, those closest to the money creation process, such as large banks and government contractors, benefit instantly from the new money creation (a phenomenon known as the Cantillon Effect), widening economic inequality and fostering the very injustice the Book of James thunders against: “Behold, the wages of the laborers… which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you.”³

This system also incentivizes debt over savings, as low interest rates encourage, if not necessitate, borrowing, while rising costs of goods outpace savings, eroding its value over time. Thus, it creates a continual cycle of financial instability that undermines the hope of financial security (Proverbs 21:20; Matthew 25:14–30).

How did it get like this?

The roots of this dysfunction trace back to key historical changes that centralized control over money and moved away from sound, asset-backed systems. As early as 1792, U.S. currency was tied to precious metals, providing a natural limit on supply, stabilizing its value, and aligning with biblical calls for fairness in trade (Deuteronomy 25:13–15). The government could not issue paper money beyond the precious metals it held in reserve. In 1873, the Coinage Act essentially narrowed this to a “gold-only” standard, tying each dollar to a fixed weight of gold, valued at $20.67 per ounce. The government was required to hold sufficient gold reserves to back all printed dollars at this rate, ensuring a stable and honest currency.

The establishment of the Federal Reserve in 1913 marked a ruinous turning point. Created purportedly to stabilize the economy after banking panics, the “Fed,” a public-private hybrid, gave a small group of bankers immense power to control the country’s interest rates, money supply, and credit. This centralization of monetary authority ignored scriptural warnings against unjust rulers and monopolies that exploit the vulnerable (Micah 2:1–2). Over the past century, the Fed’s policies have enabled massive government overspending, amassing $38 trillion in debt, financing “forever” wars, and creating excessive welfare programs that cause the U.S. government’s spending to far exceed its revenue. But how was this accomplished if new money could not be created without equivalent gold reserves?

On April 5, 1933, Executive Order 6102, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, required U.S. citizens to surrender their gold coins, bullion, and certificates to the government at the fixed price of $20.67 per troy ounce, effectively outlawing private gold ownership. This drastic move, enacted during the Great Depression amid bank failures and economic despair, was framed by the Roosevelt administration as a temporary, patriotic necessity for economic recovery. In reality, it enabled the government to amass more gold reserves through confiscation, allowing the creation of additional paper money to flood the system. Far from temporary, this policy persisted for over forty years. Yet even this seizure failed to provide enough gold to support the government’s desired spending levels.

The final blow to a secure, gold-backed dollar came in 1971 when President Richard Nixon suspended the dollar’s convertibility to gold. What was billed as a short-term measure became permanent, ushering in the full “fiat” (“by decree”) era, where currencies float freely without hard backing. When a government has no limit on the amount of money it can inject into the system, debt eventually spirals out of control. This shift enabled unchecked money printing whenever politicians deemed it necessary, as seen in responses to the “dot-com” bubble, the 2008 financial meltdown, and the COVID-19 response, where the Fed expanded its balance sheets by trillions through asset purchases, dramatically increasing the money supply, causing prices for goods to rise sharply a few years later. From a Christian perspective, this resembles the deceitful practices condemned in Amos 8:4–6, where false balances lead to economic decay.

Today, our currency resembles “play money,” like that in a board game, untethered to any tangible value and sustained by a government-enforced monopoly. Legal tender laws mandate its use, stifling competition from alternative currencies and enabling the unchecked inflation. Limitless money creation fuels boom-and-bust cycles, bursting speculative bubbles and triggering recessions that disproportionately harm the vulnerable. It props up injustice by funding endless wars, corporate bailouts, and political corruption, while devaluing the hard-earned fruits of one’s labor, defying God’s call for honest work and fair reward (Genesis 3:19; 2 Thessalonians 3:10).

Understanding the two primary flaws in our monetary system, centralized control by an unelected group and the absence of a limit on supply, reveals the rotten root of this economic chaos and points to what a solution would look like. The perfect money would be outside the control of any one person, group, or government, and it would have a fixed supply cap. This describes Bitcoin. A decentralized, fixed-supply asset like Bitcoin embodies sound money principles that resonate with biblical ideals of fairness and stewardship. By capping its total supply and operating on a transparent blockchain (a digital ledger), Bitcoin resists manipulation and empowers individuals to manage resources faithfully, free from the centralized control that has corrupted all forms of money up until now. Bitcoin returns us to the divine standard: “A just balance and scales belong to the Lord; all the weights in the bag are his concern.”⁴ Bitcoin, a decentralized monetary network, aspires to embody “perfect” or “biblical” money through fairness and transparency.

As believers, we must heed 1 Timothy 6:10 when discussing money: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Yet Scripture also affirms money’s proper role when stewarded wisely (Proverbs 13:11). So where is the balance? It lies in moderation and self-control, virtues central to the Christian life. Just as we can enjoy laughter without coarse jesting, food without gluttony, rest without laziness, anger without sinful wrath, or grieving without despair, we can pursue wealth without greed, stewarding God’s entrusted resources faithfully.

An example from history that illustrates how a new technology can bring back biblical truth and principles that were lost is Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in 1440. It is often stated how the printing press greatly enabled and advanced the Protestant Reformation, by enabling Luther and other reformers to spread their ideas more readily. But even beyond that fact, it shifted the ability to read God’s Word from an exclusive few to the common man. When the people could read the Bible in their own language, it freed them from the lies that they had been under for so long.

Faithful Christians, empowered by transformative technology, can champion the restoration of God’s just and righteous order in this broken world. Fixing the monetary system is not about greed but about standing up for biblical principles. With this perspective, Christians are biblically encouraged to study and understand Bitcoin to manage their finances in alignment with God’s principles of stewardship and fairness.

First, Bitcoin protects the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:9; Isaiah 1:17)

Henry Ford once said, “It is perhaps well enough that the people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” The current financial system has been painstakingly designed over many generations to exploit the individual. Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins prevents endless money printing, thereby stabilizing value, and protecting future purchasing power. With a system that does not have continual inflation of the supply, costs do not rise outside of the natural forces of supply and demand for the goods themselves. This allows people to simply save their money. No longer are they forced into investment tools outside of their comfort zone and knowledge (real estate, stock market, bonds, etc.), in an attempt to keep up. Bitcoin’s decentralized, public ledger lets anyone, including the poor, access and use money without high fees, high interest rates, or a bank controlling or limiting their transactions. A single Bitcoin is divisible into 100 million units, so even a few dollars’ worth can be spent or saved, making it practical for daily wages in the developing world. It protects the needy by keeping money fair across all financial classes. Outside of the United States, there are approximately 1.4 billion people who do not have access to a bank or stable currency. Bitcoin allows these unbanked to earn, save, and keep the fruit of their labor in a way that has never before been available.

Second, Bitcoin restores monetary institutions to a biblical standard (Isaiah 1:16–23).

In Isaiah’s searing indictment of Judah, the prophet exposes a nation whose “silver has become dross”⁵ and whose “wine is mixed with water” — a vivid picture of institutional corruption. Though not literal currency debasement, the metaphor perfectly illustrates how rulers today dilute money’s value for profit. This is institutional monetary fraud: the state itself adulterating the standard of exchange, inflating away the poor’s wages, and enriching the powerful. Central banks print trillions with no backing, secretly taxing savers through inflation and widening the gap between the connected elite and the common laborer. Bitcoin reverses this corruption. Its 21-million-coin cap is an unalterable covenant, no ruler can dilute it. By perfecting the money, it removes both the incentive and the ability to defraud.

Third, Bitcoin enables us to obey the biblical call: “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children.”⁶

Piling up trillions in national debt without a plan to repay it, except by printing more money, effectively sells the next generation into bondage. The process is slow, abstract, and therefore tolerated; no child is marched away in chains. Yet the result is the same: tomorrow’s generation inherits crushing obligations and not the freedom to build lives shaped by their own God-given callings. Bitcoin stops the hidden theft of inflation, letting parents store real value that neither government nor banks can dilute. A single Bitcoin today will still be one Bitcoin in future generations; its purchasing power is preserved by scarcity, not by the whims of policymakers. This fixed supply turns saving into a righteous act of stewardship, ensuring that the fruit of today’s labor becomes tomorrow’s provision rather than tomorrow’s tax. In this way, it fulfills the biblical command to leave an inheritance of blessing, not a legacy of servitude.

Bitcoin is not a solution for sin. Greed and corruption will always lurk where money is loved. But it is a tool, a digital gold standard forged in code, designed to enforce the very justice, honesty, and stewardship Scripture demands. Like the printing press that returned God’s Word to the people, Bitcoin returns sound money to the people. It protects the poor from hidden taxes, restores institutional integrity to biblical weights and measures, and secures a true inheritance for our children. As followers of Christ, we are not called to fear the future, but to prepare wisely for it. Let us study, pray, and, where the Lord leads, embrace this technology not for greed, but for righteousness. For in doing so, we honor the One who owns the scales, the silver, and the future (Proverbs 16:11; Haggai 2:8).

Footnotes

¹ Proverbs 11:1 (ESV)

² Leviticus 19:35 (ESV)

³ James 5:4 (ESV)

⁴ Proverbs 16:11 (ESV)

⁵ Isaiah 1:22 (ESV)

⁶ Proverbs 13:22 (ESV)